A year of Trail to Every Classroom Activities

Our year of Trail to Every Classroom (TTEC) activities that began at the Len Foote Hike Inn included a week of training and fun at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia, our final training at Hot Springs, NC and implementation of ideas at our two elementary schools throughout the school year.

We hosted AT record-holder Jen Pharr Davis to kick off our Appalachian Trail studies. Kids virtually hiked the trail by reading or walking at school. They wrote letters to real AT hikers and received letters back. They learned about all 14 states through which the trail passes and used online resources to find out about birds, plants and historical sites that are part of the trail.

At Upward, families visited learning stations to complete activities about different regions of the trail and then students spent 21 days in an AT read-a-thon that culminated in a visit from Walkin' Jim Stoltz, long distance hiker and musician extraordinaire. Two top readers won kids' trekking poles from LEKI and we received support from local outfitters Diamond Brand and REI.

We also partnered with Bullington Horticultural Center to plan and implement two summers of Nature Explorers Camp. During the school year, 3rd grade students worked with Master Gardeners, Carolina Mountain Club members, and the director of Bullington to study invasive-exotic plants and engage in service learning projects to remove problem plants at Bullington and along the AT in Hot Springs, NC. We received a grant from TTEC to take the kids to Hot Springs and get their research published in a brochure for the whole community. An anonymous donor was inspired by TTEC and provided another grant so that we can continue to engage students in service learning next year. We plan to do a separate blog with highlights from this amazing year and then get back to more hiking!

Trail to Every Classroom

Our latest adventure involves the Trail to Every Classroom, a joint program of the National Park Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy and other public and private partners. We're part of a 48 member team of educators from Georgia to Maine who are learning about place-based service learning opportunities that get students outdoors and engaged in activities that connect standards, civic responsibility and stewardship of the land.



In April of 2008, we met with our south- eastern team of educators and hiked from Amicalola Lodge to the Len Foote Hike Inn. Along the way, we learned about Leave No Trace principles and shared stories and ideas with our colleagues from Stone Mountain and Hiawasee, GA, Hot Springs, NC, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and National Park Service. We also discovered a bit of "trail magic" when we met up with "Chops" and "Peter Pan", two AT hikers and Georgia Appalachian Mountain Club members who were doing trail maintenance. Since we were seeking our own trail names, it was fun to hear how they came by theirs. We learned that people will go to great effort to carve out time to both hike the trail and then give back to the trail community. The positive energy is contagious.

Hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway: Last Day

Day Four: We stopped along the roadside to buy sourwood honey, jams, jellies and bark baskets crafted by two local gentlemen.

Then we headed back down the Parkway to Linville Falls. After a stop at the visitor center, we hiked up to several of the overlooks. At one, we continued our conversation about a Dopp kit. Three of the Babes were mystified by Firepink’s reference to her LLBean organizer by this name. Plenty of men seem to use this term also, so Nettle asked one of the gents at the lookout if he knew what a Dopp kit was. Everyone shook their head and looked puzzled. Nettle explained that a Dopp kit is another name for a toiletry kit. The man replied, “Who needs a toiletry kit? I just go in the woods!” : )

We enjoyed lunch at the Linville picnic area and decided to look for a gem mine in Little Switzerland. Instead, we found a gem of a bookstore and a charming old country store and café with creaky old wood floors, great t-shirts and wall signs. After pleasant browsing we decided to head home but not before listening to the Wailin’ Jennys sing “One Voice”. It seemed so appropriate for the Babes.

What an amazing trip! What an amazing group of women! Thanks, Babes!

Hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway: Third Day

Day three: After a leisurely morning at the Blue Ridge Villas, we hit the Tanawha again.

This time we stopped first at the Linn Cove Viaduct Visitor Center. There is a short trail that winds underneath the viaduct through large rocks, some covered with the most amazing tree root formations. Rosebay Rhododendron was beginning to bloom (see eNature link for description).



This part of the trail is entirely in the woods. There were large patches of blooming Galax and more incredible roots both in the trail and creeping over large boulders at the side. The Babes really got into singing, perhaps to drown out the noise of the Parkway. Here the Tanawha runs too close to the road. Nettle taught us an old girl scout tune:

Sing your way home at the close of the day/Sing your way home, drive the shadows away/ Smile every mile/For wherever you roam/It will brighten your road/It will lighten your load/If you sing your way home.
(Traditional; copyright unknown. Listen to the tune at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/singhome.htm)

When we reached Rough Ridge trail it was nearly 6 p.m. The hike up to the top consisted of many rock steps through Huckleberries and Sand Myrtle. After the boardwalk there are several very large (and not very level) boulders. We selected one for “Hard Rock Café 2” and enjoyed a dinner of veggies, peanut butter and trail mix. Evening was truly a beautiful time to be at the top of Rough Ridge. One can understand why the Cherokee named the trail Tanawha, "great hawk". It is a place where spirits soar.

Hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway: Tanawha Trail

Addendum to Day One: The most interesting plant at Moses Cone was Dodder, a golden parasitic vine which looks like silly string, tangling everything in its path. (See eNature link for a description.)

The second day, we planned to hit the Tanawha Trail early in the morning. A bit too relaxed, I guess but we managed to find the trail head before noon after consulting several park rangers. (Don't they hike?) We left one car at Rough Ridge and drove to Julian Price Memorial Park. The trailhead is near the amphi-theater in the campground, near Price Lake.

This part of the Tanawha Trail alternated between lovely cool woods and open meadows which contained an orchard and a family of horses.









We entertained the idea of feeding them an apple but realized that we needed half a dozen, one for each, including a lovely colt. We were also afraid that if we fed them, they would follow us on the trail. They decided to hit the trail anyway and were persistent but gentle. We had to navigate around them and headed off into the woods.

After awhile we began to get hungry, and Nettle spotted the perfect spot, overlooking a steep rock face with views of the woods under a sun-speckled canopy of leaves. We named it "The Hard Rock Cafe."
After lunch, we continued through the shady trail. Shortly, we came upon an abandoned backpack in the trail. Someone was probably in the woods taking a leak. . . . A little further down the trail, we came upon another abandoned pack in the trail. Mysterious. . . . Why would two hikers just drop their packs? To run from a bear? Now we were concerned. The next clue: a couple of two foot long rebar in the trail. Then, more back packs and a pile of hard hats. Who would drop all this gear? The SCA (Student Conservation Corp)! It wasn’t long before we came upon the nicest group of young people, gathered on the Tanawha from places as far away as California.


With them, was a little dog, Buddy, who decided to follow us up the trail. Thank Goodness, he had an identification collar and Nettle had a cell phone. We agreed to meet the owner at Boone Fork parking area. Was he ever happy! After the joyous reunion, we opted to ride back down to our car at Rough Ridge in the back of his pick-up and spent the rest of the afternoon in Blowing Rock shopping.
(What would a women’s retreat be without at least one shopping event?)

Hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway

The Babes just returned from a fabulous four day retreat. We drove two vehicles in order to do car switches along the Tanawha trail. In order to facilitate communication, one sister brought walkie-talkies and we all adopted “handles”. Firepink and Nettle drove, Bluet and Clover navigated and kept the communications going.

Day one: We drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped for lunch at the Linville picnic area.

After lunch we continued north to the Parkway Craft Center at Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. The views were spectacular. The sky was a clear intense blue, as is sometimes seen on a crisp fall day. We hiked up a gravel road through woods and meadows to the firetower (about 5.5. miles roundtrip). From there we could see out in all directions, including the campus of Appalachian State University.

We hiked back down in the beautiful amber light of early evening. After picking up essentials at Earthfare in Boone, we headed to Blue Ridge Village to settle in.